Asking questions is inherent to human nature, but this skill can get trained out of us over time. In this post, Jason Grant says that by getting back to asking good questions, user experience designers can quickly get to heart of a problem and develop better solutions.

If asking the right questions is important for designing better user experiences, listening and collecting answers to those questions is absolutely critical. This post offers up a nice collection of tools designers and developers can use to gather and assess user feedback.

Here’s a good challenge: Design an app that does not require the user to use a screen. By changing design thought processes, (and, yes, asking the right questions), and looking closely at what you’re trying to help the user accomplish, it may be possible to “illuminate a path of unforeseen delight for customers," according to author Golden Krishna.

Albert Einstein is reported to have said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” But have the latest user interface trends towards simplicity and flatness taken this bit of advice too far? If, as this article contends, simplicity fails to communicate an application’s intent, then the answer may be “yes.”

Belated birthday wishes to Photoshop, which turned 25 years old on February 19th. While this ubiquitous tool (which even became a verb!) has had its share of detractors over time, it’s hard to overestimate the wide-ranging influence it has had on digital experiences. Which is the first version you remember using?